‘UK must innovate its way out of crisis’
The UK must innovate its way out of crisis, the president of the CBI business group has insisted at a virtual Edinburgh conference.
Delivering a keynote address at the EIE20 tech investor event, CBI president and Cobra Beer founder Lord Bilimoria remarked that ,“our country is at a crossroads and we must innovate our way out of this”.
He noted that Cobra Beer had lost two-thirds of its sales over lockdown.
Meanwhile, at the same event, techuk President Jacqueline de Rojas said the organisation has seen the demand for digital skills “grow exponentially on the back of Covid-19” while also championing diversity in the tech sector.
EIE20l ed off withan investor- only event featuring former Sky scanner chief operating officer Mark Logan, whose Scottish Governmentcommissioned report on Scotl and’ stech sector was published in August.
The main conference included pitches from 50 start-up to scale-up founders pitching for seed funding to series A investment rounds up to £5 million. Pitching companies included hotel app Criton, sensor technology specialist start-up Beringar and ethical finance startup Soar.
Danny Helson, programme manager fo rEIE,s aid :“All our companies did a brilliant job and they got a rare forum in which to pitch to investors from across the globe.”
The conference featured online“pavilions” bringing star t-ups, investors, government and advisers together from Germany, the Americas and Asia-pacific.
EIE has supported nearly 500 tech star t-ups and scale -ups since 2008 which have collectively raised over £750m.